Aldo Hoeben has been involved in panoramic photography since 1996. Over the years, he deployed several different viewing technologies, discovering the merits and limitations of each technology. With a steady development of mainstream computer graphics hardware and the arrival of broadband internet, the time to initiate new innovations in the field of panoramic imaging has come. This is why Aldo started to develop the SPi-V engine; a hardware accelerated panorama viewing engine, based on Macromedia's acclaimed Shockwave technology.

In 2006, Aldo joined the IVRPA Board of Directors and was responsible for designing and implementing the new IVRPA community website, based on the open source Drupal CMS.

In the same year, Aldo decided it was time to focus all his energy to the field of panoramic imaging. fieldOfView now provides Aldo's software, panoramic photography for print and interactive use, as well as price winning art installations

Brooks Leffler is a former public television producer, kite retailer, Executive Director of American Kitefliers Association, and editor of the aerial eye, a quarterly journal on Kite Aerial Photography (KAP). Organized three international KAP conferences and many KAP workshops.

Dominique Pouliquen graduated from Ecole Superieure de l'Ouest, Angers, France, and holds a Masters of Sciences in Engineering. He has more than 22 years experience in Computer Graphics. Prior to founding REALVIZ, Mr. Pouliquen headed the Visualization Department at Sogitec, a subsidiary of Dassault Aviation, one of the world's leading aircraft construction companies. Mr. Pouliquen also worked as a Senior VP for Medialab, Paris, a subsidiary of the French TV Canal +, as head of their Technology Department.

Drew Steedly has been a scientist in Live Labs since 2006 where he has led the 3D reconstruction effort in Photosynth. Prior to joining Live Labs, he worked in the Interactive Visual Media group at Microsoft Research on creating panoramas from video and image stitching technology for Virtual Earth. He received his Ph.D. in computer science from Georgia Tech in 2004.

Eric Hanson is a visual effects designer specializing in the creation of 3D digital environments and effects for feature films. Having worked with leading effects houses such as Digital Domain, Sony Imageworks, Dream Quest Images, and Walt Disney Feature Animation, his work can be seen in The Day After Tomorrow, Cast Away, Hollow Man, Mission to Mars, Bicentennial Man, Atlantis, Fantasia 2000 and The Fifth Element, as well as many special-venue films. Eric is also an active instructor, leading courses on effects techniques at Gnomon School of VFX and the USC School of Cinema/TV. Eric is a member of the Visual Effects Society and attended the University of Texas at Austin. Eric recently started xRez Studio with Greg Downing, offering gigapixel imaging services for various markets. He wishes he could sleep more.

Gary O'Brien has been at the Charlotte NC Observer since 1988, serving variously as a photographer, systems editor and photo editor. He currently is the night photo editor at The Observer, a 240K circulation newspaper in the middle of the Carolinas.

A two-time North Carolina Photographer of the Year, O'Brien led the paper's photography department through the conversion from film to digital, and is playing an instrumental role in its development of online multimedia. Since 2004, he has concentrated on creating Virtual Reality projects, shooting panoramas, object and timelapse movies as well as video for charlotte.com.

O'Brien has previously worked at the Mesa, AZ Tribune; Flagstaff AZ Daily Sun and N. Las Vegas Valley Times. He has a B.S. in Photography from Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff. He lives in Charlotte with his wife Meredith Hebden and four cats.

Greg Downing specializes in image-based 3D technologies. His photographic work has been displayed in some of the nation’s most prestigious museums including the American Museum of Natural History, the Cincinnati Art Museum, and the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. Much of Greg’s technical background comes from his work in development at Realviz on ImageModeler, Stitcher and Sceneweaver. He has worked in film production as a Lighting Technical Director at Rhythm & Hues and Sony Imageworks. Greg teaches at the Gnomon School of Visual Effects, has presented at professional conferences for both visual effects artists and photographers, and has been published in numerous 3D industry magazines. Greg recently started xRez Studio with Eric Hanson, offering gigapixel imaging services for various markets.

Helmut Dersch is a professor of physics at the Hochschule Furtwangen University (HFU) in Villingen-Schwenningen (Germany). He lectures in physics and mathematics courses for engineering students. His research interests include immersive imaging and superconducting machines.

Dersch graduated in physics at the Philipps-University Marburg. He received his diploma in 1980 and his doctorate in 1983. He was DFG-fellow and staff-scientist at Lawrence-Berkeley Laboratory from 1983 to 1985 and later became head of the solid state physics group at Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) research center (Baden, Switzerland). Since 1991 he is professor at HFU.

Ian has been a panoramic photographer for nine years, moving from big film cameras to stitched imagery five years ago. He mostly shoots for the corporate art market (big prints on big walls), but is fortunate enough to be be shooting the kinds of images that he would be doing out of choice.

An inveterate tinkerer, Ian would rather be taking something apart to see how it can be 'improved' than use it for the original purpose.

John Greenleigh is a Bay Area photographer and owner of Flipside Studios, a leading provider of 360 degree product photography. His client’s include Apple Computer, T-Mobile, Nike, and Gibson Guitars. John has been at the forefront of VR object photography since Apple asked him to start spinning their products back in 1996. He helped found the original Bay Area QTVR Association, and is a current member of the IVRPA and ASMP.

Ken Stuart has been shooting panoramas since 1999 and has travelled to four continents to do so -- mostly on archaeological and historical sites in Peru, Egypt, Iceland, Italy, and England, but also in U.S. locations near his home in Southern California.

With a graduate degree in archaeology, a keen interest in photography, as well as extensive professional experience in developing dynamic database-driven web sites and online games, Ken finds immersive panoramas the perfect combination for virtual tours and one of the coolest things about the Internet.

Kevin O'Connor has been a professional photographer for 35 years, a graphic designer for 25 years, and a color management specialist for more than ten years, long before it became fashionable. A self-professed "lazy man", he delights in finding and sharing the most efficient ways to work in the brave new digital world. He has spoken for and consulted to Apple, HP, GretagMacbeth, X-Rite, Kinko's, Fujifilm USA, Sony and a host of other companies. Bring your color and Photoshop questions to his seminars so that you can go home armed with new knowledge!

Before founding Plans and Tours, Mark Cowtan was Director of Marketing at network equipment maker Extreme Networks, and has held various marketing positions at Nortel, 3Com and Wang among others.

[In his previous life, he was a seasoned spokesman on a wide spectrum of networking and internet issues, and contributed to numerous trade publications.]

After nearly 20 years bringing to market, technologies and products that form the foundation of the modern internet, Mark has turned his attention to the applications fueling the Internet revolution in Real Estate.

Matt Uyttendaele works in Microsoft Research as a Development Manager. He is the lead of the HD View project. In recent years he has worked on many projects in the area of interactive imagery. These include image stitching, high dynamic range imaging, Microsoft Group Shot, Microsoft DreamScene, MSNBC's Rising From Ruin Project, and development of the Pt. Grey Ladybug Camera. He has been at Microsoft since 1996. Prior to that he was at AT&T Bell Labs. He received an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1990.

Matthias Taugwalder has been involved with developing Internet sites in the tourism sector since 1996. He grew up in Zermatt/Switzerland, right in the heart of the Alps and at the foot of the world-famous Matterhorn mountain. He climbs every mountain just like his great-great-grandfather Peter Taugwalder, who survived the first ascent of the Matterhorn with Edward Whymper.

Patrick Cheatham is a Berkeley, California based photographer, multimedia developer and panography evangelist. In 2007 Patrick was again elected by his peers to serve as a director of the International VR Photography Association (IVRPA). Patrick is also listed in the Adobe Photographers Directory, and organizes quarterly meetings of panoramic photographers in the Bay Area.

With other members of the IVRPA, Patrick has helped organize the 2007 International VR Photography Conference in Berkeley and the first annual IVRPA Panoramic Photography Contest. In the past, Patrick spoke at the VR Summit in Savannah, Georgia and gave several presentations there on VR photography and interactive Web development.

Patrick is an Oklahoma native, though life as an Army brat had him growing up in many different places across the USA and Europe. With his wife, Maura, he's settled into life in Berkeley, California, where the weather suits his clothes. When not providing consultation and support to traditional photographers who wish to create interactive imagery, or photographing and scripting dynamic content for his own clients, Patrick has been known to take graduate courses in Linguistics, do the crossword and snap the occasional photo just for fun.

Scott Highton is one of the original pioneers of virtual reality photography. He was the first outside photographer hired by Apple to test and work with Apple's QuickTime VR technology during its development in 1994, where he photographed the first commercial QTVR project (the original Apple Company Store). The following year, he served in a similar capacity for the now defunct IPIX Corporation (then known as TeleRobotics International). He photographed many pioneering VR projects since.

Scott is known for pushing the limits of photographic VR technologies. He was the first to shoot both QTVR and IPIX panoramas underwater, and has photographed ton assignment throughout the world, including in aerial, extreme, and remote locations. In his efforts to push the creative envelope, he has developed a number of custom camera mounts for positioning his cameras in unique locations. He trained as a machinist and metal fabricator in his spare time in order to better pursue these efforts.

He has always promoted the benefits of good business practices for photographers, and has been a frequent author and speaker at industry events. He served as a national director of the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) for close to 10 years, and was founding co-president of the Bay Area QuickTime VR Association. He is now trying to finish his long-awaited book on Virtual Reality Photography -- www.vrphotography.com

Thomas Rauscher started with computer graphics at the age of 13. On an IBM PC, with just 4 grayscale colors, he wrote his first ray tracer. During several years of absence from computer graphics he recived a Bachelors Degree in computer science and electronic engineering. Then his first contact with a fisheye lens and the World Wide Panorama in 2004 started the fire again. Since then he has contributed to the open source library PanoTools, written the software Pano2QTVR and helped the World Wide Panorama project among other activities in the field of panoramic photography. He is currently finishing his Masters degree in Computer Graphics.

Tim Petros has a BSME in Mechanical Engineering from University of Illinois, and studied photography at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. Tim's been a professional commercial photographer since 1979, working with Photoshop since 1986.